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India, Pakistan set date for talks

13 February 2010 04:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Indian and Pakistani officials on Friday agreed to meet in New Delhi later this month in a bid to resume talks disrupted by the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, APA reports quoting CNN.
Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir accepted India’s offer of a meeting in a phone call to his counterpart here, a statement said.
The officials will meet in the Indian capital February 25, according to India’s External Affairs Ministry.
India suspended its fragile peace process with arch-rival Pakistan following the Mumbai siege that left 164 people dead. The assault has been blamed on militants in Pakistan.
The South Asian nations vowed to resume talks when their prime ministers met in Egypt in July.
Indian leader Manmohan Singh and Pakistan’s Yusuf Raza Gilani pledged in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh not to link their action on terrorism with the dialogue process.
But Singh’s position angered his Hindu nationalist opponents back home who accused him of reversing what they called India’s long-standing policy on terrorism.
The latest move follows the trip by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the Asian subcontinent in January. During his tour he warned that a terror syndicate operated by al Qaeda aimed to spark a conflict between India and Pakistan.
He praised what he saw as India’s restraint in the wake of the Mumbai strikes, but cautioned it may wear out in the event of another such attack.